Democrats leading the Senate jobs push will likely unveil their initial package of legislation Thursday, but it will not include a key section, which will likely be adopted separately after action by the Senate Finance Committee, headed by Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT).
“Senator Durbin and I will be disclosing the jobs bill that we put together…will probably do something to disclose that on Thursday,” said Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND).
“Our jobs bill…contains the things that we think represent a consensus in our caucus of what we can do to stimulate the creation of additional jobs,” Dorgan added.
But the package will not include a tax credit aimed at stimulating employment.
“What we’re doing is leaving room for the creation of a wage tax credit,” which, Dorgan noted, will likely be run through the Senate Finance Committee.
Baucus has suggested to Democratic leadership that some aspects of the jobs package be approved by Senate committees first–particularly those elements that might have a hard time getting 60 votes to overcome a filibuster. Currently, Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Orrin Hatch (R-UT)–both members of the Finance Committee–are working on a bipartisan job tax credit proposal.
They better hurry.
“I think we’ve got to move quickly on this,” Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) told me today. “I think that’s what the public wants.”
So what measures might escape the Finance Committee? At a press conference today, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid laid them out.
“We need to extend the highway bill for one year,” Reid said. “We’re going to do section 179 of the small business tax [code]…. We also want to do the Build-America bond,” which would extend state and municipal government’s ability to issue bonds to finance local projects.
